Thilenius House Wine Cellar Mystery Solved

Longview AKA the Thilenius House

I ran some aerial photos of the neighborhoods around Capaha Park February 15, 2010, where I asked readers if they could identify the large white house at the bottom of the photo. It had a street or driveway that looked like a question mark leading to and around it. It looked like something I should remember, but I drew a blank.

Sixteen minutes after posting the question, Missourian Photographer Fred Lynch sent me the answer: the mystery house was Longview, also known as the Col. George C. Thilenius House.

Even though the home is only about two blocks from Cape Central High, is on the second highest hill in the city and has been there since 1870, I had never seen the place.

View from the south

My Mother, who has been just about everywhere there is a where, said she had never been there, either, but knew “about” where it was. Her “about” was good enough. It was at 100 Longview Place, within about two blocks of Central and about two blocks from a house we owned on Themis St. long before Central was even a dream.

Longview Place, is a jog on what, otherwise, would be Whitener St. It’s south of Themis St, west of Keller Ave., east of Sunset Blvd. and north of Independence St.

National Register of Historic Places

Fortunately for the curious, there’s a wealth of information about the property. Want a floor plan of the interior? Want to know about why red tile replaced the original wood shingles in 1926? (Fire.)

Want to know when the house was wired for electricity and received indoor plumbing? (1917.)

The application filed to have the residence listed on the National Register of Historic Places has all of that and more.

It’s available for download here. It’s a huge document that may be too large for folks who don’t have broadband internet connections. If you’re interested in area history, I’d encourage you to snatch it.

Here’s a hint: I kept getting error messages saying the file was damaged when I clicked on it like you would a normal link. That’s probably related to its size. Here’s what worked:

Right-click over the link above.

Chose Save Link As and download the file.

Use Adobe Acrobat to open it.

Wine cellar? Slaves?

Some of the readers mentioned that they had seen or heard of a wine cellar on the property; others wondered if it had any connection to slavery.

Tidbits from the Register document

George C. Thilenius and many other German settlers took a strong pro-Union, anti-slavery position in the days leading up to the Civil War.

He participated in the first Union triumph of the Civil War, saving St. Louis for the Union.

General U.S. Grant ordered the construction of four forts in Cape Girardeau and put Thilenius in charge of them.

In 1867, Thilenius paid $1,000 for the 9.56 acre site where Longview sits. Before building his home, he built a three-story brick winery on the site.

Construction of the house, which is the only one of its kind in Cape Girardeau, began in 1870.

The remains of the old Thilenius Winery are located on the property to the west of the house. The subterranean cellar portion of the winery is all that remains today, and, except for an entrance on the extreme west end, has been covered over with earth. The upper two brick floors of the winery were demolished in 1964.

All but 1.4 acres of the original 9.56 acres were sold to a real estate developer in the 1950s.

Longview from the west

39 Replies to “Thilenius House Wine Cellar Mystery Solved”

The home is owned by the Marge Thompson family, decendant of Col. Thilenius. I’ve been in the home several times. The family has an incredible collection of memorabilia from past times including clothing, books, papers etc. With the home remaining in the same family it was possible to preserve these things. The home has been open at various times for fund raisers. If you have the opportunity to attend a function there, it is well worth it. Marge devoted many hours to the Cape River Heritage Museum and is a wonderful lady

I did a story about Longview some time ago. Marge Thompson was wonderful, sharing information about her family home and the property. Among the information crdit was given to Col. Thilenius, her great grandfather,for helping establish the normal school(SEMO University)at Cape.

As a child growing up in the 40’s and 50’s in the 1500 block of Themis, all the kids in the Themis neighborhood were aware of, and in awe of, the “old brick wine cellar” which looked very scary. As little girls, we dared not try to get in, but we made up our own stories about what was once housed there and how it was probably haunted!

How wonderful that you have researched this mystery for me and all the Themis street “gang”. Thank you!

I can remember being inside that house but cannot for the life of me remember why I was there. May have been girl scout troop visiting the home. What I do remember was a very old wind up Victorla. I wish I could find out who lived there during the 50’s and early 60’s. It might jog my memory as to why I was visiting the home. Thanks Ken for the good memories.

On the left side of this house is a 2-story brick colonial. It was built in the 1980s on top of the wine cellar. In the front yard of the newer home built is the entrance to the cellar by the entrance to the driveway.

Thanks for this information about the Longview house. I have lived on WHitener all my life (grew up and currently own a house) and never knew the history of it. Thanks again for your hard work on finding out this information.

Just a slight correction to the July 11th entry. The colonial home was not built on top of the wine cellar, but behind it. I am the Great, Great Grand-Daughter of the Col. and spent many a happy and scary moment exploring the old cellar. My 86 year old mother still lives in the home, and she claims she is, “The hysterical old lady, that lives in the historical old house”

For those who are interested, our mother, Marge Thompson passed away in July of 2011. She was born at Longview and died in the home of her birth after suffering a long battle with cancer. Her passion for preserving Cape’s history and that of her ancestral home has helped provide her family with a rich look into our past, which we hope to continue. Marge had four daughters, Nancy, Trisha, Julia and Lisa. I moved back to Cape Girardeau from Florida right before mom passed to take a job with the City as their Parks and Recreation Director. I am also taking a class in Historic Preservation at the University which lead me to explore the internet and find this posting. I am currently working on a project to expand the information related to Colonel Thilenius’s business endeavors, especially Cape City Bottling Works. The Colonel bottled the first soda/cider/wine as a business in Cape and shipped as far away as California. He also milled quality flour which won a medal at the Worlds Fair. The property surrounding Longview housed not only the wine cellar and outbuildings but was used to grow fruit trees that were harvested and processed for wine/cider and soda. Ella Keller Miller McGowan my grandmother, lived in the house during the early 1900’s through 1972 when she passed away after succumbing to illness while visiting family in Florida. Fred C. McGowan, her second husband, helped establish Sunny Hill Feed and Seed, another business that would be interesting to research all the history of…..I currently live at Longview and will continue working on preserving its history and heritage. Thank you all for any input.

I’m lecturing on Missouri Germans in the Civil War at SEMSU April 11, 2012, and Colonel Thilenius will of course receive prominent mention. Please pass along any additional information you think I should know. I found particularly interesting that he had apparently participated in the capture of Camp Jackson in St. Louis, which I had not known before.
Walter Kamphoefner, Texas A&M University

It’s wonderful that you are continuing the tradition of preserving an important piece of the Cities history. When I was young and living in Cape (on Luce St), we didn’t know anything about the house and thought it was an old “Haunted House”. I suppose that was pretty normal for a Kindergartner riding his bike through there to get to the Pac-A-Snack on Independence St.

For anyone researching the site —
I am trying to compile biographies to go on the department of Missouri Sons of Union Veterans website of all their past commanders. Apparently Fred McGowan who lived at this address was a commander in 1940, 1941 and 1951 (possibly more years too). Would anyone have info on him? On his terms in office? A photo of him? Thank you.

I grew up across the street fom Longview. My parents bought their home in1962 and owned the house for 47 years. I remember the old wine cellar well and remember the CGiwans and their granddaughters Julia and Lisa fondly. It was a lovely place to grow up, close to schools and Capaha park — and a long, beautiful view of the west side of Cape.

As a ten year old curious boy, my cousins and I found an opening to the cellar. We crawled in and explored. I remember finding cases of civil war bullet slugs inside. We got scared and left immediately, not disturbing or taking anything. Wrong I know, but an adventure none the less.

Gads…I think I didn’t really ‘live’ in Cape as a kid. I am guessing growing up out on Perryville Road I never traveled anywhere near the Thilenius home even though it was so close to Central High School. What a piece of history in our own back yard that I am only now just learning about. Ken, you may have moved away from Cape but I believe you are still a Cape boy.

My name is Tiffany, My grandfather is Dan Cummings, from Dan’s key and lock shop….I grew up in awe of Longview…the Thompsons always have been a wonderful family and the home is beautiful. I live I Florida and am coming home to visit soon..and since Dan lives a stones throw from Longview….I may have to take a stroll:)

My friends and I used to sit in the old wine cellar to the west and tell stories about the place. Some true some made up. I was a cool place to go and think also. We always made sure that there was never anything left showing we had been there. Maybe we didn’t belong there, but we didn’t bother anyone. It is nice to be able to read about the place.

I found a photo of a wine cellar/tunnel on the grounds of the Thilenius House. I am doing some online house hunting around Cape and glanced at the big brick house that was built next to the historical one ( in the 1980s I think). In the listing photos, there is one of the underground area everyone talked about in your blog article–can’t leave the photo here so I’ll leave the zillow link: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1626-Whitener-St-Cape-Girardeau-MO-63701/2131973836_zpid/

About a year ago I commented about this house as I am relative. Jacquelin Stutz Mullin. I can’t remember who to respond to but was invited to come out and let them know I would be there when I traveled through. I will be passing through Cape Girardeau tomorrow, August 24th. Would like to meet with her and discuss my family history. Please contact me.

Julia I am so looking forward to meeting you and other relatives. Currently the only family I know of is:. Myself, daughter, Jennifer Bare, Grandson, Xavier Richmond, Sister Belinda Stutz Wysner: Daughter, Tyler Wysner, Brother : Michael Stutz and his wife Melissa. All grandparents and one aunt have passed. My sister and brother have enjoyed teasing me by telling me that I am now the Matriarch of the family! Bahaha. They don’t listen.

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Cape Central High Photos

Ken Steinhoff, Cape Girardeau Central High School Class of 1965, was a photographer for The Tiger and The Girardot, and was on the staff of The Capaha Arrow and The Sagamore at Southeast Missouri State University. He worked as a photographer / reporter (among other things) at The Jackson Pioneer and The Southeast Missourian.

He transferred to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, his junior year, and served as photo editor of The Ohio University Post. He was also chief photographer of The Athens Messenger.

He was chief photographer of the Gastonia (NC) Gazette for a long 18 months until he could escape to The Palm Beach Post, where he served as a staff photographer, director of photography, editorial operations manager and telecommunications manager. He accepted a buyout in 2008, after 35 years at the paper.

Most of the stories are about growing up in a small Midwestern town on the Mississippi River, but there’s no telling what you might run into.

Please comment on the articles when you see I have left out a bit of history, forgotten a name or when your memory of a circumstance conflicts with mine.

(My mother said her stories improved after all the folks who could contradict died off.)

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